


i never wanna act my age

by sodun



Series: rarl oneshots [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, Its implied, M/M, and also carls first kiss ever, as in their first time kissing each other, carl gets excited, fluff carl is 16, ron is 17, ron is whipped, they find a playground while on a run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6700264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodun/pseuds/sodun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carl and Ron find a playground while on a supply run. Carl can't help himself and Ron thinks it's adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i never wanna act my age

**Author's Note:**

> this is not proofread or anything just written out of late night boredom. hope you enjoy xx
> 
> title is from whats my age again? by blink-182

At first, Ron loved supply runs. Since the start of the apocalypse, he'd been stuck inside the walls. He wanted to see what the world had become over the past few years. He wanted to understand what Carl and his family had to live through. 

After a couple of runs, the novelty wore off. They became a chore. Exploring a new abandoned town where they'd almost always find nothing wasn't as exciting as Ron had hoped. Carl, on the other hand, knew what to expect. Something about being on the other side of the walls was always exciting to him. It was almost like coming home after a long day at work. Since the age of ten, this was the world he knew. He hardly even remembered the world before the apocalypse. 

Today's run, however, turned out to be exciting for both of them.

Ron and Carl were tagging along with Daryl and Michonne to scope out a town they hadn't had time for on their last run. They left right at sunrise, as their destination was quite far. Carl slept most of the ride. Ron could hardly tear his eyes away from the boy. He looked so peaceful, so pretty. Carl was often on edge, always ready for everything to go south. In his sixteen years, he'd seen enough to scar anyone for a lifetime. He kept a lot to himself, but one night when he and Ron camped out behind Ron's house (Carl's first time sleeping outside for fun), Ron was woken up by Carl sobbing. It wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear, but Ron heard. Ron heard him whimper and cry, whispering about how he "can't do it" and he "would rather kill himself". He woke Carl up, who simply brushed it off as nothing. "Happens all the time," he mumbled, turning over but never falling back asleep. It was then that Ron realized that Carl was damaged.

Seeing him like this, though, with his head against the window, soft snores escaping his plump lips, his long hair falling onto his peaceful face, Ron almost forgot about that. He looked so innocent, so gentle, like a normal sixteen year-old boy who hadn't gone through what Carl had.

Ron didn't want to, but eventually he had to wake the boy up. 

"Was I really out that long?" He'd asked, to which Michonne responded by telling him he slept like a baby. Carl blushed, saying he hadn't slept well the night before. The group had figured that was the case.

They set off to explore the town. Daryl gave them the usual "stay where all the buildin's' are and within yellin' distance" before they split up. 

Carl and Ron headed south while Daryl and Michonne went North. The first few times the two teens went on runs, they had to stay with an adult at all time- just in case. However, they kept running off on there own anyways. Rick eventually decided they could split off from groups. 

The two looked through a couple houses, finding some clothing, canned food, bottled water and a few childrens toys. Ron thought the toys would take up too much room and wasn't sure they should bring them, but Carl insisted. He wanted to bring them back for Judith, so Ron didn't stop him.

It was right when they were about to go into their forth house that Carl saw it. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the worn purple and blue plastic slide, tucked behind a public pool. He gasped, stopping and turning towards it.

"What is it?! What's the matter?" Ron whispered, spinning around.

Carl blushed. "Sorry, it's just- the playground over there."

"What about it?" asked Ron, relieved that it wasn't anything bad. 

"I want to go play on it."

"Carl," Ron sighed, "we're here for supplies."

"Aww, c'mon Ron, we've got all day! Can't we take a break for a few minutes?" Carl pleaded, and Ron couldn't tell if he was pouting on purpose or not.

"Fine, fine, we'll finish this street then go play on it as long as everything is safe here," Ron relented, unable to say no to the younger boy.

The two searched the remaining houses on the street, both of them ending up with full backpacks. Once they'd finished, Carl grabbed Ron by his hand and practically dragged him back up the street to the playground. Ron decided to ignore the butterflies holding Carl's hand gave him.

"This is the greatest day of my life," Carl announced as they stood in front of the playground. There were two slides, monkey bars, and swings, as well as various different tubes and climbing areas.

Carl then took off towards the playground, disappearing into a white and blue tube that led to the top of the jungle gym. Ron sighed and followed him up, unable to stop himself from smiling. He though Carl was being absolutely adorable.

"Wait up, man!" Ron called out, watching Carl scrambling up the pipe as though a walker was hot on his tail.

Carl giggled, making Ron's heart melt. "Never, you'll have to catch me!" 

"Fuck," Ron mumbled under his breath, speeding up a bit. 

After a minute or two of chasing the younger boy, Ron finally caught up with him. He slid down a slide and waited for Carl at the base of the other one. 

"Gotcha," He grinned, tackling Carl against the slide and pinning his hands above his head.

Carl pouted. "Aw, fine, you win."

Ron's expression fell neutral as he took in Carl's features. He never realized how blue Carl's eyes were. Or how fluffy his hair was. Or how soft his skin looked, or how kissable his lips were..

"Ron?" 

"Y-yeah?" Ron gulped, releasing Carl's arms and watching as his gaze flickered from his eyes, to his lips, then back to his eyes.

"Can I try something?" Carl whispered, biting his lip.

The older boy nodded, watching as Carl closed his eyes and leaned up slightly. Ron started to lean forward as well, closing his eyes just before their lips met.

It was soft and slow and a bit sloppy but still a million times better than Ron could have imagined. Carl's hands came up to gently grab at Ron's hair, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. The two eventually had to pull back for air.

"Wow," Ron breathed, his face centimeters from Carl's.

"Wow," Carl agreed, smiling sheepishly, "can we do that again?"

"Fuck yeah," Ron whispered before connecting their lips once again.

\----

Daryl and Michonne had seen Carl lead Ron off to the playground excitedly. They were inclined to tell them to get back to business, but they decided against it. What harm would letting them mess around for a few minutes do? 

The two decided they'd drop their bags off in the truck, then go get the teens so they could return to Alexandria. This would give Carl and Ron some time to do whatever they were doing, as they didn't know if they'd ever come back to this town again. What they didn't expect, though, was what they saw when they finally arrived at the park.

"I hate to ruin y'alls fun but- god _damn_."

The younger pair broke apart, Ron immediately standing up at staring at Daryl and Michonne with wide eyes. 

"Um, it's, not what it looks like?" He stuttered, looking from Daryl, to Michonne, to Carl, who was still on the slide, now covering his face with his hands.

"What, did you trip and fall on him?" Michonne teased, unable to stop herself from grinning. "Was about time you two got together."

"Agreed, been gettin' sick of you two makin' lovey eyes behind each other's back."

Carl moved his hands, his face bright red. "What?"

"Everyone knew it was gonna happen," Michonne stated.

"Oh," Carl mumbled, "Everyone?"

"Everyone," Daryl confirmed, nodding, "Even your dad was waitin' for it. Now come on, we need to get back. Did you find anything?"

This time, Ron didn't ignore the butterflies he got when Carl held his hand on the ride home.


End file.
